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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22561543">Hi, Ben!</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shestoolazytologin/pseuds/Shestoolazytologin'>Shestoolazytologin</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Actors AU, BAFTAs, F/M, Idiots in Love, Minor Rose Tico, Modern AU, Red Carpet, because THOSE black and white pics inspired me, ben is nominated, rey presents the best actor award</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 18:48:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,778</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22561543</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shestoolazytologin/pseuds/Shestoolazytologin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The effect this man has on her is electric - it sets every single nerve in her ablaze, until all she can do is think about him and just him, until he is the sole focal point of her entire universe.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>187</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Hi, Ben!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So, clearly *those* two black and white pics of Adam and Daisy, as well as the video of Daisy saying “Hey, Adam” inspired me. 😂 </p><p>Betaed by the wonderful <a>tmwillson3</a> ❤️</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <a href="https://ibb.co/wzLSWTg">
    
  </a>
</p><p><br/>
She steps out of the limo, coming face to face with the blinding lights and people calling her name. It’s surreal being known, noticed, requested, and she feels blessed for the opportunity she has been given. She lifts her dark green Oscar De La Renta dress slightly off the ground and walks up the steps, smiling and waving at everyone calling her.</p><p> </p><p>She isn’t nominated in any of the categories tonight, her only movie being released in December, with the fate of her character upsetting more than just a few people. She hasn’t commented on it, deciding to put everything behind her with a smile plastered on her face, regardless of how much it all annoys her. </p><p> </p><p>No, the reason she is here tonight is to present an award, the one for Best Actor specifically, with someone near and dear to her being one of the nominees.</p><p> </p><p>She sincerely hopes he wins. He deserves it.</p><p> </p><p>She stops and smiles for the cameras, twisting this way and that, making sure to look at everyone calling her name. Her right side is covered by a green veil matching the color of her dress, and remembering her hair is tightly pulled back, she is thankful for its existence - she hates feeling very exposed.</p><p> </p><p>Deciding she has been posing for a normal amount of time, she waves benevolently and turns to her right, walking away.</p><p> </p><p>She looks at everyone in their dresses and tuxes, mingling. She doesn’t necessarily dislike award shows; she just doesn’t like the fakeness that usually comes with them. Everyone pretends to know you well, to be happy to see you, to be excited for your wins and saddened by your losses, but she knows better. It’s a cruel, cruel world, and everyone has to survive in it to the best of their abilities. </p><p> </p><p>She sees him accidentally, even though deep down she knows she has been searching for him in the crowd. He’s not hard to miss - taller than everyone else, carrying himself with grace, and in a way that <em>screams</em> presence. </p><p> </p><p>He can make the whole room go silent, direct everyone’s focus on himself. People think he likes it, but she is the only one who knows how much he hates it.</p><p> </p><p>He looks at her and smirks.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, Ben!” she says, a soft smile playing on her lips, and he winks at her, making her heart skip several beats.</p><p> </p><p>The effect this man has on her is electric - it sets every single nerve in her ablaze, until all she can do is think about him and just him, until he is the sole focal point of her entire universe.</p><p> </p><p>She walks away briskly, not wanting him to see every emotion crossing her face.</p><p> </p><p>He will know if she lets him.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>X</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>She is a vision in green, something precious and beautiful that he wants to protect rather than have her walk around in this nest of vipers. She is too pure, too good, too kind, and he wonders how he is even allowed to bask in her light.</p><p> </p><p>She greets him, and though she looks serene, he knows she is anything but. She hates this place, he knows it. She hates the fake smiles and calculating gazes, knows people don’t know a thing about her.</p><p> </p><p>She had told him so while shooting Episode IX, after all.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>People keep telling me they know me. No one does.</em>
</p><p> </p><p><em>But I do, </em>he had answered, and for a split second he had wondered, hoped, that she felt about him the same way he felt about her.</p><p> </p><p>He hadn’t had the chance to say anything back then, and now the trilogy was over. </p><p> </p><p>He poses for the cameras, keeping an eye out for Rey, but she is long gone. He hopes he can admire her from afar during this bore of a show he’s been forced to attend.</p><p> </p><p>He has to, if he wants to stay sane. Rey’s presence keeps him sane, and she doesn’t even try.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>X</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>She can’t keep her eyes off him, the way he rolls his jaw, the way she knows when he is annoyed, and resists the urge to go sit next to him. Does he know how much he affects her, how much he means to her? She had had the golden opportunity to tell him back when they were shooting Episode IX, but she had chickened out. In any case, he didn’t feel the same way about her.</p><p> </p><p>Rose elbows her softly, and she snaps her gaze towards her.</p><p> </p><p>“You okay?” Rose asks, worry etched on her face, and she forces herself to return to the physical plane of existence.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah. No, yeah, I’m fine,” she forces out, hoping Rose won’t ask her too many questions, internally sighing from relief when she indeed doesn’t. “Just nervous, I guess.”</p><p> </p><p>Rose puts a calming hand on her arm and nods. “I know. I’m nervous, too. I truly hope he wins that award. He poured his entire being into that movie.”</p><p> </p><p>She nods, checking the time. She notices the signal from an invisible corner of the stage, and gathers her dress. “It’s time. I have to go.”</p><p> </p><p>She can do this. For Ben.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>X</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>She walks on stage smiling, and he doesn’t know if the fact that he knows exactly where her dimples show is a good or a bad thing. He guesses it doesn’t matter, since all that belongs to him alone. There’s no way she feels the same way about him - he is positive his feelings are unrequited - and he would rather have Rey in his life as a friend than not at all.</p><p> </p><p>All he has is the kiss they shared at the end of their last movie together, a box office disaster thanks to the choices of some less-than-bright people in charge, but he will take that any day. He flashes back to it, the way Rey’s Kira had studied his Kylo for a moment before she had gone in for the kiss, and all he had done was wrap his arms around her, pulling her as close as she physically could.</p><p> </p><p>That hadn’t been scripted. He had broken character because Rey had kissed him.</p><p> </p><p>He is deep in thought, watching her but being miles away mentally, which is why it takes him a second to register his name being called. He snaps out of his trance and wills his body to move, do anything but sit there like an idiot, and walks up to the stage.</p><p> </p><p>To Rey.</p><p> </p><p>She hugs him tightly, and his arms wrapping themselves around her is a reflex, something he doesn’t have to force his body into doing. She pulls away and hands him over his award, smiling brightly, eyes shining with joy.</p><p> </p><p>Is she really that happy for him?</p><p> </p><p>She clears her throat without breaking her smile, and he realizes he has been staring at her like a lovesick idiot. </p><p> </p><p><em>Fuck.</em> He can already picture the tabloids the next day, but it’s all worth it.</p><p> </p><p>Smiling at the audience full of actors and directors, he realizes that any sort of speech he prepared previously is completely forgotten.</p><p> </p><p><em>I guess we’re winging it</em>, he thinks to himself and starts talking.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>X</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>His speech is over, and she is close to tears because it’s him, Ben. He won, and she’s so happy for him she might burst. He thanks the audience and turns to her, leading her backstage, his hand a calming presence on the small of her back, and she wills her heart to stop its stupid somersaults.</p><p> </p><p>Once away from prying eyes, he turns her to face him, and she is left breathless at the fire in his eyes. She wants this man, has always wanted him, right from the first moment she saw him. There’s never been anyone else for her but him.</p><p> </p><p>She kisses him in a moment of clouded judgement, opening herself to rejection, and heartbreak, and tears, but all she feels is him hugging her so tight she has trouble breathing. She has felt that hug from him once before already, during their kissing scene in Episode IX. It had been unscripted, not part of the plan, but now she knows it had been part of <em>Ben’s</em> plans.</p><p> </p><p>He walks forward, and she walks back, until her back hits the mirror table, where they pull apart.</p><p> </p><p>“You kissed me,” he says in a dazed wonder, and she laughs joyously. “You actually kissed me.”</p><p> </p><p>“I’ve been wanting to kiss you for a while now,” she says timidly. “Six years to be precise.”</p><p> </p><p>He laughs, eyes crinkling, his beautiful dimples showing, and he presses his forehead against hers. “I’ve been wanting to kiss you for that long, too.”</p><p> </p><p>His words ring in her ears, and she is unable to hear anything else but the rapid beating of her silly heart. “You have?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah,” he said, cupping her face in his hands. “Gods, Rey. I have. You have no idea how badly I have.”</p><p> </p><p>“Show me,” she says in a moment of bravery she didn’t know she possessed, and he takes her request to heart.</p><p> </p><p>He kisses her like a man starving, like he’s been parched for days - years - and she feels it all over her. She wraps her arms around his neck, and he lifts her up, setting her on the small mirror table.</p><p> </p><p>Her legs wrap around his waist, and she pulls him closer to her, until her end becomes his beginning. Until she forgets all about the rest of the world but the two of them. </p><p> </p><p>This is how it’s supposed to be. </p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>X</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>She dazedly walks back to her seat and comes face to face with Rose’s raised eyebrow. Her look is by no means judgmental, just curious, and she tries not to squeal like she wants to. </p><p> </p><p>“Where have you been? You missed, like, four awards,” she shrieks in a whisper, and Rey smiles at her. </p><p> </p><p>“Backstage,” she replies simply, and is awarded with Rose’s unimpressed look. </p><p> </p><p>“Right. Weirdly enough, Ben missed four awards, too.” </p><p> </p><p>She purses her lips, desperately wanting to tell Rose everything, but she and Ben are still so young, so fragile, that she wants to keep him a little bit longer to herself before she accidentally informs the world that they are together. </p><p> </p><p>She is having trouble believing it, too. </p><p> </p><p>Rose studies her face, and she must have seen through the cracks because she’s suddenly gasping, her eyes going impossibly wide. “Oh my God, you didn’t!”</p><p> </p><p>She looks at Ben, finding his eyes trained on her, and winks at him, earning herself a smirk. “I just won an award of my own.”</p><p> </p><p>And really, she did. </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hope you liked this and thanks for reading- you can find me on Tumblr <a>Shestoolazytologin</a> or Twitter <a>@Reylo4President</a>. 😊</p></blockquote></div></div>
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